


First Steps

by brokencrown



Series: Tom & Emma [2]
Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Actors, Celebrity Crush, Crushes, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Romantic Comedy, Theatre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 18:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4232016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokencrown/pseuds/brokencrown





	First Steps

"He _**what**_?!" Emma could not believe what she was hearing. The last thing she expected when she entered the National Theatre the next day was to hear from Allen that Tom Hiddleston had asked for her number. _But why?_ Allen seemed to hear what she was thinking and shrugged. She did her routine warmup and tried to stop thinking about what could have possibly possessed him to ask for her number. It didn't work. 

Getting through the show was painful. She was beyond distracted with questions and overthinking. _This is torture._  

 _This is torture._  Tom thought as he stared at his phone lying on the coffee table in front of him. He had no reason whatsoever to contact Emma, but he wanted to talk to her again. Had to. He looked at the clock and noted that the show was probably thirty minutes short of being over. This was insane. He had only met Emma the night before and what did he have to base his attraction to her on? This, he contemplated as he began to pace the length of his living room. Aside from her beauty, intriguing personality and sheer talent, he couldn't think of a thing. He sighed and reclaimed his seat on the couch, placing his head in his palms. _What is she going to think when I ring her out of the blue?_ She probably already thought he was a bit weird from the way he had come into her dressing room after the show. Their first meeting hadn't exactly gone smoothly. He was at a loss for words, she was...well...her. _This is absolutely insane._  

He glanced at the clock again and forty-five minutes had passed. Time flies when you're overthinking everything. _Just do it._  He picked up his phone and dialed the number, holding his breath while it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Yes. Is this Emma?"

"Yeah."

"It's, uh, it's Tom."

"Right." She was being incredibly short with him and he didn't know how to respond to that. There was a what seemed to be painfully long silence. "Sorry, just...how exactly did you get my number?" 

"Oh, I uh," he gave a nervous laugh. "It's a funny story actually. I ran into one of your cast mates Allen and just sort of...asked for it."

"Uh huh." _Tough crowd_ , he thought. 

"Look, I'm not exactly sure why I'm calling..."

"Or why you asked a stranger for my number?"

"Yep. That too." He heard a small laugh from the other end and smiled. 

"There doesn't always have to be a reason."

"That's incredibly profound."

"I do my best." Hearing her say that again made it feel like he knew her even better. He was picking up on her character traits quickly and enjoyed each and every one of them.

"How was the show tonight?"

Emma couldn't believe how natural this felt. Especially after how unnatural their previous encounter had felt. Maybe it was because his beautiful blue eyes weren't staring into her soul, pressuring her to be perfect.

"It went really well, I just had a lot on my mind...distractions." _Oh, here we go._

"Distractions?"

"Uh, yeah. Just thinking about things. You know...stuff." By this time she was back in her flat and staring at her ceiling, studying the cracks in the paint. 

"Well, I hope I'm not to blame."

"I mean, you may have popped into my head a time or two for, like, brief seconds." There was a pause and the image of Tom smiling on the other end came rushing through her mind. She shook it away.

"I can't deny that I thought about you today as well." _Shit, shit, shit, shit._  

"About how charming and charismatic I am?"

He laughed. "Precisely." There was a longer pause. Emma wondered if she should say something before Tom blurted. "Your beauty also crossed my mind."

**_What?!_ **

She had nothing to say to that. Nothing at all. In fact, the harder she tried to think of a response, the more her capability of forming thoughts imploded. Minutes must have passed, hours even.

"Emma?" She jumped and dropped her phone. Emma scrambled to pick it back up.

"Yes. Hello. Sorry. What?"

"I thought I had lost you, there was a really long silence."

"Nope. Still here."

"Should I maybe...not compliment you?" Tom sounded relatively hurt. Did she hurt his feelings? She pondered how she could rectify the situation.

"Yeah, probably not." _Excellent. Good work._  "I mean, no, I appreciate it. I just..." She took a deep breath and decided now was the time to just be honest. "I just have a lot of feelings about this situation, whatever this situation is, and I'm not sure how to handle anything you're saying right now."

"Fair enough."

"I'm sorry if I--"

"No, not at all."

"Good." Pause. "Well, since we're all being honest here, in those brief seconds you crossed my mind today I'm sure your handsomeness was a part of that..." She took her phone away from her ear and banged it against her head several times, wondering why she had the social skills of a cactus. 

"You really are one hell of a charmer," he said through a chuckle. 

"I--"

"Do your best?"

 _Unbelievable._ "You know me too well." 

"Not as well as I'd like."

He was good. Too good. "Well, what should we do about that?"

"Perhaps dinner? Tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"I'll send you the address. I look forward to it."

And with that, he hung up. If she thought for more than two seconds about what exactly was happening to her life, she would have hyperventilated. Instead, she thought about him and his soothing voice and his perfect smile and _stop_. They both went to sleep with smiles on their faces, ready for what the next night had in store for them.

 

 


End file.
